Transient current pulses in rocket-extended wires used to trigger lightning

Abstract

We analyze current, electric field, and optical signatures of the sudden electrical breakdown processes (precursors) that occur at the top of the upward extending, grounded, Kevlar-covered copper wires used to artificially trigger lightning. For one launch, before the sustained upward positive leader initiated, we estimate that up to 10,000 precursors occurred (one every few hundred microseconds) with peak currents from 1 to more than 100 A. Luminosity at the wire tip was observed for 339 of 410 precursors examined in detail and, in seven cases, discharge channels developed to lengths of 3 to 8 m over times of several hundred microseconds. The measured propagation speeds of current pulses on the triggering wires were less than the speed of light, and decreased from about 2.8 × 10 8 m s -1 to about 2.3 × 10 8 m s -1 with increasing wire-top heights from about 80 m to about 340 m. The triggering wire and its grounding system are modeled as uniform transmission lines with model predictions that are consistent with the measured wire-base precursor current signatures. The modeling shows that (1) the characteristic impedance of the triggering wire, the ratio of the propagating precursor voltage pulse to its associated current pulse, is between 600 and 800 Ω; (2) the 25 m ground rod grounding impedance for the peak precursor current is about 100 Ω, while the DC grounding resistance is 20 Ω; and (3) the current reflection coefficient at ground for peak precursor current is ∼0.9.